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Indiana Counties

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Indiana Counties

Indiana is divided into 92 counties. The oldest and newest Counties in Indiana are Knox County (created 1790) and Newton County (created 1857).

The largest county is Allen (657 sq. mi.) and the smallest is Ohio (87 sq. mi.). According to the Indiana Constitution, no county may be created of less than 400 square miles, nor may any county smaller than this be further reduced in size.

Many Indiana Counties are named for the US Founding Fathers and personalities of the American Revolutionary War, the War of 1812 and Battle of Tippecanoe; early leaders of Indiana Territory and Indiana, as well as surrounding states like Michigan and Kentucky; plus Native American tribes and geographical features.

LaGrange County, Indiana

LaGrange County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

County Seat: LaGrange
Year Organized: 1832
Square Miles: 380

Court House:

105 North Detroit Street
County Courthouse
Lagrange, IN 46761-1877

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Named for the Revolutionary War hero Marquis de Lafayette's home in Paris.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

LaGrange County was formally organized April 1, 1832.

LaGrange County is divided in to 11 Civil Townships as follows: Bloomfield, Clay, Clearspring, Eden, Greenfield, Johnson, Lima, Milford, Newbury, Springfield and Van Buren.

The first settlement of LaGrange County was founded about a half mile west of Lima in 1828. Over the next four years, settlers flocked to parts of Lima, Springfield, and Van Buren Townships. Finally in 1832, LaGrange County was carved out of neighboring Elkhart County and established with Lima as the county seat. The town of LaGrange was platted in 1836 and settled in 1842 as the new county seat, closer to the center of the county. Lima's name was changed to Howe in 1909.

In 1837, the government removed Chief Shipshewana and the Potawatomi Tribe from the northwest corner of the county. Several years later the Chief was allowed to return and died in Newbury Township in 1841. A town named Georgetown had been platted in 1837 but was abandoned due to lack of development. In 1844, the first Amish came from Pennsylvania to settle around the old town. The village continued not to grow and the town of Shipshewana was platted nearby in 1899 and incorporated in 1916 in Newbury Township.

LaGrange County was named after the home of Revolutionary War hero, the Marquis de la Fayette, outside of Paris, France.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 387 square miles (1,002 km²), of which 380 square miles (983 km²) is land and 7 square miles (19 km²) (1.85%) is water.

The county is mostly made up of rural farm land but also some rolling hills and several lakes.

Neighboring Counties:

Northeast: Branch County, Mich.
East: Steuben County
Southeast: DeKalb County
South: Noble County
West: Elkhart County
Northwest: St. Joseph County, Mich.

Cities and Towns:

- Clay	township
- Clearspring	township
- Johnson	township
- Lagrange (County Seat)	town	Incorporated Area
- Lima	township
- Newbury	township
- Shipshewana	town	Incorporated Area
- Springfield	township
- Topeka	town	Incorporated Area
- Wolcottville	town	Incorporated Area

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

County Resources

The history of our nation was a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names given the counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of this country!"

But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.

Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally, act locally."